Arts & Culture

On Mar. 30, Vallejo’s very own E-40 released Revenue Retrievin,’ which features two separate albums whose songs relate through their titles and cover shots. The first album, Day Shift, contains a plethora of interesting sounds to cruise or dance to, while Night Shift is more club-oriented and relaxed. E-40 is well-known for his ‘hyphy’ Bay Area music, involving lyrics that speak mainly about the urban lifestyle. These albums only add to his incredible reputation, featuring artists such as Snoop Dogg, Gucci Mane, B-Legit, Too $hort, The Mob Figaz, Mistah F.A.B. and more.

In an all-too-familiar move last week, the state of Georgia passed a budget that will potentially eliminate the Georgia Council for the Arts. Thousands rallied at the Georgia capitol to protest the budget on Monday, addressing the overwhelming sentiment that arts are almost always first on the chopping block. As whimsical as it may sound, it’s truly unfortunate that the arts are generally first to go when it comes to budget cuts. And I don’t mean to simply whine – it’s unfortunate because arts and culture are inextricably connected to a country’s economics and social well-being.

Pianist Vladimir Feltsman will perform at the Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall on Saturday, Apr. 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $17.50 for students. Feltsman will play Beethoven’s “Sonata No.8 in C Minor,” J.S. Bach’s “Parita No.1 in B-Flat Major” and “Four Ballads” by Frederic Chopin at Saturday’s show.

For English majors and creative writers, poetry is a part of daily life. But even if the last time you read a poem was in your high school language arts class, tonight’s poetry reading at the John Natsoulas Gallery at 8 p.m. will offer the chance to rediscover this unique art form with some of today’s most promising young poets. Tonight, the Poetry Night Reading Series will host some of the featured poets from independent poetry publishing house Flatmancrooked’s latest publications. These include Not About Vampires: An Anthology of New Fiction Concerning Everything Else and The Slim Anthology of Contemporary Poetics, both of which are due in 2010.

Just hours before they hit the big stage last Wednesday, Passion Pit drummer Nate Donmoyer and keyboardist and guitarist Ian Hultquist sat with the Aggie on the blue benches outside Freeborn Hall. Passion Pit, whose music has exploded in the electronica, indie pop and alternative dance music scenes, played a sold out concert in Freeborn Hall that night, presented by the ASUCD Entertainment Council. Despite their relative success, it appeared that these were just two completely normal guys ready to have a good time doing what they love.

MUSIC The Speed of Sound in Seawater, Buff Clout, Golden Arm, Jesus and the Rabbis Friday, 9 p.m., free The Bomb Shelter, 720 Anderson Road Experience the Bomb Shelter, an actual 1960s underground bomb shelter built in the backyard of 720 Anderson Rd. that now plays host to musicians around the country thanks to the concrete bunker’s natural reverb. Concerts don’t get more intimate than this. Jake Mann and the Upper Hand, Mist and Mast, J. Irvin Dally Friday, 10 p.m., $3 Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

Rating: 4

Rating: 4

Rating: 4

When the Pulitzer Prizes were announced on Monday, two atypical winners received awards in the journalism category. ProPublica, an online investigative news organization, and Mark Fiore, an online cartoonist, won prizes in a category historically dominated by print media. What happened? Journalism’s shift to new forms of media is no longer news. But contrary to what pundits might suggest, journalism itself isn’t witnessing its own demise as the Internet takes over media outlets. It’s witnessing a complete overhaul, and slackers will indeed get left behind.

Marking the sixth consecutive year in which the staff team and relations commission of Davis has partnered with United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF), three selected documentary films will be featured in this year’s film festival at the Varsity Theatre on Sunday. Utilizing the medium of film and cinematography, the festival aims to enlighten and inspire audiences. This year, the City of Davis and UNAFF brings greater issues of human rights, sustainability and justice to the forefront.

The Mondavi Center can add yet another classic American icon to the long list of talented performers they have procured. On Apr. 22 at 8 p.m. in Jackson Hall, the famous Arlo Guthrie and Co. will perform for one night only as part of the “Guthrie Family Rides Again” tour. Guthrie will perform with his wife, four children and seven grandchildren. This is the first time they will all be performing together on stage.